The Great War: Long Shadows Over Sheffield

Long Shadows Over Sheffield - forgotten voices of the Great War.

The Great War had a devastating effect on Sheffield. Hundreds of the city’s young men were slaughtered on the first day of the disastrous Somme offensive.

A shocking German Zeppelin raid dropped death from the skies above Sheffield in September 1916.

Publisher Neil Anderson

Church Rolls of Honour and War Memorials still bear their names but their stories are largely forgotten, until now. ʻ

Long Shadows over Sheffield unearths some of the most jaw-dropping tales of the men who willingly gave up their civilian jobs to make the ultimate sacrifice for King and Country.

Graphic newspaper reports, many from The Star, are mixed with rare photographs and a Sheffield soldier’s personal war diary to provide a memorable tapestry of hardship, heartbreak and horror that was the result of the Great War which began a century ago. ʻ

The book - now available from The Star shop in York Street - has been painstakingly written and researched by Chris Hobbs and Matthew Bell, the critically acclaimed authors of Sheffieldʼs Shocking Past.

Long Shadows Over Sheffield authors and researchers Chris Hobbs and Matthew Bell

Publisher Neil Anderson today writes exclusively for The Star to tell how his own great-grandfather survived the Somme and why it is important to tell other local stories in this year marking the 100th anniversary of World War I.

Neil writes: “As a child I still remember the long shadow cast by the Great War over the family home in Fir Vale, Sheffield.

Though I ended up as a successful author and publisher, the Coningsby Road resident wasn’t renowned for books.

In fact it had just one.

Neil Anderson's great-grandfather Harold Hickson

But it spoke volumes of the horrors the city suffered at the hands of the Great World War.

Covenant With Death was John Harris’s harrowing account based on the history of the Sheffield City Battalion - the band of brave men that answered Kitchener’s call and volunteered for duty.

My great grandad, Harold Hickson, was one of the first to sign up.

He was one of the lucky ones. Though wounded, he survived the bloodbath that was the Battle of the Somme; arguably the biggest disaster in British military history that wiped out a large percentage of the Sheffield men that worked together, trained together and then died together.

Clem Hobbs - a bullet passed straight through the bible into his chest but, amazingly, it didnt kill him.

As war dragged on it got to a point that Harold was one of the few men remaining from the scores that originally left the Fir Vale area of Sheffield to enlist.

The whole street used to dread his letters arriving home as it was always bad news.

Author John Harris was the only person he ever truly opened up to about the horrors he’d witnessed in France. Harold’s memories made up a large part of the book.

I still have Harold’s signed copy. It’s a family heirloom.

But with every Sheffielder that fought in the Great War now dead, there’s only memories and war memorials to remember them.

That’s why I was only too pleased to work on Long Shadows Over Sheffield - a new book that tells long forgotten stories of soldiers from the city.

Co-author Chris Hobbs researching Great War stories in The Star

It has been compiled by Chris Hobbs and Matthew Bell who wrote the fabulously researched Sheffield’s Shocking Past - parts one and two.

They both have their own direct links with Sheffield in the Great War.

Chris Hobbs still cherishes the bible that sat in his grandad’s tunic pocket when he was shot.

There was no miracle for Clem Hobbs - the bullet passed straight through the bible into his chest but, amazingly, it didn’t kill him.

Chris Hobbs said: “My grandad was a former miner that endured a catalogue of injuries including being shot through the face and suffering a scalded calf. He was finally discharged in 1918 as he was no longer physically fit enough for war.”

The duo spent the past year unearthing some of the most jaw-dropping tales of the local men who willingly gave up their civilian jobs to make the ultimate sacrifice for King and Country in a bid to ensure their stories aren’t forgotten.

From the 67-year-old Sheffield resident who became one of the oldest men to die in the war, to the 15-year-old from Nether Edge whose fascination with the sea led to his death in battle.

They revisit the night when Sheffield found itself on the front line when a German Zeppelin dropped death from the skies in September 1916 causing shocking loss of life in the Burngreave area of the city.

The raid caught the air raid wardens totally off guard.

They were at a knees up in the Grand Hotel on Leopold Street.

The killing was indiscriminate - women, children and men all died, many as they lay in their beds.

The suffering didnʼt end with the cessation of hostilities. Survivors – including three of the cityʼs holders of the Victoria Cross – relived the unspeakable carnage for the rest of their lives, whilst the grief of wives and parents is laid bare in previously unpublished correspondence.

Though Matthew Bell’s grandad was too young to fight he too did his bit. “ My grandad, Stuart Taylor, was just 14 when he began working for Shardlow manufacturing crankshafts. I still wear the gold wristwatch he was awarded for his 50 years’ service.”

Graphic newspaper reports are mixed with rare photographs and a Sheffield soldierʼs personal war diary to provide a memorable tapestry of hardship, heartbreak and horror that was the result of the Great War which began a century ago.

The book is available from The Star Shop at just £12.95 or from.acmretro.com

* Read a FREE chapter from the book now on line at www.acmretro.com/longshadows

Neil Anderson's great-grandad Harold Hickson, top row, third from right, trained for battle with other Sheffield sioldiiers at Redmires Camp, November 1914.

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice.
If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the
Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the IPSO by
clicking here.

Sheffield Telegraph provides news, events and sport features from the Sheffield area. For the best up to date information relating to Sheffield and the surrounding areas visit us at Sheffield Telegraph regularly or bookmark this page.

For you to enjoy all the features of this website Sheffield Telegraph requires permission to use cookies.

Find Out More ▼

What is a Cookie?

What is a Flash Cookie?

Can I opt out of receiving Cookies?

About our Cookies

Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.

This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object) - a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.

Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.

However, please note - if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.

The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:

Revenue Science ►

A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Google Ads ►

Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Digital Analytics ►

This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.

Dart for Publishers ►

This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.

ComScore ►

ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

Local Targeting ►

Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.

Grapeshot ►

We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.

Subscriptions Online ►

Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.

Add This ►

Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.